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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. capital — a city
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. drill — the tool
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. drill — a practice
  7. stock — goods
  8. file — a line of people
  9. deal — a big deal
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. deal — to handle
  12. file — a document
  13. file — a tool
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. plane — a tool
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. drill — army training
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. stock — shares
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. capital — money

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com